REVIEW: Out of This World
Posted on 3 May 2017
“Keep me safe, don’t let me do anything stupid and don’t tell me what I already know…”
With a hospital band around her wrist, Ellen Jones has artistic licence to do whatever she wants, to go wherever she wants and to bring us with her, inside her head. But she must leave everything behind. Stepping through the door from pain to fantasy, we follow her as she leaves reality and enters a world of projection, animation, special effects and beautiful aerial choreography.
Sarah Swire leads the audience through a grown-up wonderland where one constantly questions what is real and what is not? Soon we learn that Ellen (played by Swire) has been placed in a medically induced coma following a harrowing and terrifying accident. Who else was in the crash? Will she survive? Where are they now? What will happen to her? With dregs of reality hidden within each scene, the audience soon struggles to separate the true from the imagined. But then, who said what happens in your head can’t be real?
“Is anyone else confused?”
Suspended by wires, the small cast switch from traditional scene work to fantastic physical movement, acrobatic strength and beautiful shapes in the air. Although at times the movement is slowed or isolated in relation to the scene, EJ Boyle’s choreography presents a constant feeling of motion throughout, tying each scene to the next and linking the characters without the need for dialogue. Medical sounds soon morph into music as Ellen fights through her head, accompanied by Nathaniel Reid’s innovative score.
With surprisingly comedic moments, Mark Murphy has created a “Mind Production” of wonder, psychological thrills and drama that will capture you from the first projection and leave you questioning beyond the last song.
Tonight is the final performance at The Peacock Theatre with tickets still available here. For those who cannot make tonight's performance, be sure to catch Out of This World at one of the stops on their UK tour, check out the schedule of performances here.
